Harish Chandra Vishwakarma, an ex-railway employee, who fought against Mukhtar Ansari
Mau:
Stealing 2,000 stones was the first reason. The second was the land grab. Both allegedly by men of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari. He had retired in 2003, but there was no rest period.
Harish Chandra Vishwakarma, a former railway employee, filed a land grab case against regional strongman Mukhtar Ansari the same year. It became the first land grabbing case in a long list of cases against the regional heavyweight, who died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Banda in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. He was 63.
“We all have to die someday. It’s your story as well as mine,” 82-year-old Vishwakarma, who lives in Mau, philosophically told WhatsNew2Day when asked about the gangster’s death.
Since 2005, until his death, Mukhtar Ansari was in various prisons of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
“There was a land opposite my house that was allegedly taken over by Mukhtar Ansari’s men. A school was built there and Mukhtar Ansari was called to inaugurate it,” 82-year-old Vishwakarma, who lives in Mau, told WhatsNew2Day.
“To build a road leading to the school, his men (Mukhtar Ansari) stole the 2,000 bricks I had bought to build my house,” he said.
When Mukhtar Ansari – who hails from Mau and is also believed to have a strong influence in Ghazipur and Varanasi districts – came to inaugurate the school, he was weighed in coins, he added.
The gangster won the Mau Assembly seat five times in a row in early 1996, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last participated in the parliamentary elections in 2017.
On inquiry, the retired railway employee found that the land belonged to the state government. He immediately filed a case against Mukhtar Ansari and his men.
When asked how he handled the money, Mr Vishwakarma said he used his pension to fight the case.
Mr Vishwakarma says his big brother was attacked by Mukhtar Ansari’s men as he refused to withdraw the case.
Because he won after many years, the school was closed and the Mau Nagarapalika took over the premises.
He never found the stolen stones, but Mr Vishwakarma, who lost his wife in 2018, was able to build his house.